[Moto X Android Development] hachamacha:
I just tried that out by doing about 30 seconds of talking during a video panning around a room, and then playing a piece on acoustic guitar for ~1 minute or so. I never had tried that on 5.1 but I assume it would have worked better, but anyway: Here's what happened:

RESULTS

1) Talking for first thirty seconds: No problems with video or audio, no distortion, and if it was using auto-leveling to adjust audio, it did a great job.

2) Playing guitar for a minute or so: The first 10 seconds of playing were good sound, better than I'd expect. After the first 10 seconds, it was somewhat distorted on playback. Having recorded a lot, it sounded to me as if the Mic was too "hot" (too much gain), but I suppose it could have been many other things.

Question from me so I can look at the log from a session like above:

On previous versions of android (LP and below), I could use any (logcat, catlog, alogcat, etc) of the ~20 or so utilities for log collection from the play store without problem. Now it seems as if they either have no permissions to pick up the logs (syslog or dmesg or any of them), or that the mechanism has changed. Is anyone else running into this?

After looking through developer options carefully I realized that I could produce a bugreport from inside there by enabling an option and that is the only way that works. I'd like to have the flexibility to get one of the playstore apps working on logcat if anyone knows or recognizes this problem.

Thanks.

Edit: More info:

I tried to take this a little further by copying the .mp4 file ^^ to a PC and using a graphic utility to watch the waveform of the audio. It does seem to be a "hot mic" problem, as if the default level ((or maybe autolevel is set to off)) is way too high. The waveform is pretty much universally clipped/extremely high level. I think the reason the voice sounds good is because voice is 2-3K and simple, not too dense, but music is all over the map (~500->16K on a phone) and the overloaded bass end alone would cause this. I'll experiment a bit more to see if I can find a way to lower input levels.

Edit2: Possible related files in /system/etc:

I recalled that in prior OS versions that in /system/etc, there was an XML file that allowed for various video codec adjustments called (I think) :: mixer_paths.xml. In 6.0.1, there is no such file. That file was "something like" the text version of opening the mixer by right-clicking on a windows PC vol control in the lower right area of the screen.

What there is in /system/etc that appears to perhaps be related now are these files:

root@ghost:/system/etc # ls *.xml
apns-conf.xml media_codecs_ffmpeg.xml media_profiles.xml
fallback_fonts.xml media_codecs_google_audio.xml nfcee_access.xml
fonts.xml media_codecs_google_telephony.xml selective-spn-conf.xml
media_codecs.xml media_codecs_google_video.xml system_fonts.xml

And here is an example of how my file media_profiles.xml is setup right now (although I'm not sure this is the equivalent file from prior version):

root@ghost:/system/etc # more media_profiles.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- Copyright (C) 2010 The Android Open Source Project

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
-->
<!--
Copyright (c) 2012, The Linux Foundation. All rights reserved.
Not a Contribution, Apache license notifications and license are retained
for attribution purposes only.
-->
<!DOCTYPE MediaSettings [
<!ELEMENT MediaSettings (CamcorderProfiles,
EncoderOutputFileFormat+,
VideoEncoderCap+,
AudioEncoderCap+,
VideoDecoderCap,
AudioDecoderCap)>
<!ELEMENT CamcorderProfiles (EncoderProfile+, ImageEncoding+, ImageDecoding, Cam
era)>
<!ELEMENT EncoderProfile (Video, Audio)>
<!ATTLIST EncoderProfile quality (high|low) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST EncoderProfile fileFormat (mp4|3gp) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST EncoderProfile duration (30|60) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST EncoderProfile cameraId (0|1) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT Video EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST Video codec (h264|h263|m4v) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Video bitRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Video width CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Video height CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Video frameRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT Audio EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST Audio codec (amrnb|amrwb|aac|lpcm) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Audio bitRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Audio sampleRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST Audio channels (1|2|6) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT ImageEncoding EMPTY>s)←[0m←[1K
<!ATTLIST ImageEncoding quality (90|80|70|60|50|40) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT ImageDecoding EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST ImageDecoding memCap CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT Camera EMPTY>
<!ELEMENT EncoderOutputFileFormat EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST EncoderOutputFileFormat name (mp4|3gp) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT VideoEncoderCap EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap name (h264|h263|m4v|wmv) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap enabled (true|false) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap minBitRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap maxBitRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap minFrameWidth CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap maxFrameWidth CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap minFrameHeight CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap maxFrameHeight CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap minFrameRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoEncoderCap maxFrameRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT AudioEncoderCap EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap name (amrnb|amrwb|aac|heaac|aaceld|wma|lpcm) #REQUIRED
>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap enabled (true|false) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap minBitRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap maxBitRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap minSampleRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap maxSampleRate CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap minChannels (1|2|6) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST AudioEncoderCap maxChannels (1|2|6) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT VideoDecoderCap EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST VideoDecoderCap name (wmv) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST VideoDecoderCap enabled (true|false) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT AudioDecoderCap EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST AudioDecoderCap name (wma) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST AudioDecoderCap enabled (true|false) #REQUIRED>
]>
<!--
This file is used to declare the multimedia profiles and capabilities
on an android-powered device.
-->
<MediaSettings>
<!-- Each camcorder profile defines a set of predefined configuration parame
ters -->re--(29% of 12868 bytes)←[0m←[1K
<!-- Back Camera -->
<CamcorderProfiles cameraId="0">
<EncoderProfile quality="qvga" fileFormat="3gp" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="120000"
width="320"
height="240"
frameRate="15" />

<Audio codec="amrnb"
bitRate="12200"
sampleRate="8000"
channels="1" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="480p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="6000000"
width="720"8 bytes)←[0m←[1K
height="480"
frameRate="30" />

<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="720p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="10000000"
width="1280"
height="720"
frameRate="30" />

<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"es)←[0m←[1K
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="1080p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="17000000"
width="1920"
height="1080"
frameRate="30" />

<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>
←[7m--More--(41% of 12868 bytes)←[0m←[1K
<EncoderProfile quality="timelapseqvga" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="512000"
width="320"
height="240"
frameRate="30" />

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="amrnb"
bitRate="12200"
sampleRate="8000"
channels="1" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="timelapse480p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264" bytes)←[0m←[1K
bitRate="6000000"
width="640"
height="480"
frameRate="30" />

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="timelapse720p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="10000000")←[0m←[1K
width="1280"
height="720"
frameRate="30" />

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="timelapse1080p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="17000000")←[0m←[1K
width="1920"
height="1080"
frameRate="30" />

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<ImageEncoding quality="95" />1K
<ImageEncoding quality="80" />
<ImageEncoding quality="70" />
<ImageDecoding memCap="20000000" />

</CamcorderProfiles>
<!-- Front Camera -->
<CamcorderProfiles cameraId="1">
<EncoderProfile quality="qvga" fileFormat="3gp" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="120000"
width="320"
height="240" bytes)←[0m←[1K
frameRate="15" />

<Audio codec="amrnb"
bitRate="12200"
sampleRate="8000"
channels="1" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="480p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="6000000"s)←[0m←[1K
width="720"
height="480"
frameRate="30" />

<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>
←[7m--More--(60% of 12868 bytes)←[0m←[1K
<EncoderProfile quality="720p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="10000000"
width="1280"
height="720"
frameRate="30" />

<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"es)←[0m←[1K
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="1080p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="17000000"
width="1920" bytes)←[0m←[1K
height="1080"
frameRate="30" />

<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />tes)←[0m←[1K
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="timelapseqvga" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="512000"
width="320"8 bytes)←[0m←[1K
height="240"
frameRate="30" />

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="amrnb"bytes)←[0m←[1K
bitRate="12200"
sampleRate="8000"
channels="1" />
</EncoderProfile>2868 bytes)←[0m←[1K

<EncoderProfile quality="timelapse480p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264" bytes)←[0m←[1K
bitRate="6000000"
width="640"8 bytes)←[0m←[1K
height="480" bytes)←[0m←[1K
frameRate="30" />s)←[0m←[1K

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="timelapse720p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="10000000"
width="1280"
height="720"
frameRate="30" />

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<EncoderProfile quality="timelapse1080p" fileFormat="mp4" duration="30">
<Video codec="h264"
bitRate="17000000"
width="1920"
height="1080"
frameRate="30" />

<!-- audio setting is ignored -->
<Audio codec="aac"
bitRate="128000"
sampleRate="48000"
channels="2" />
</EncoderProfile>

<ImageEncoding quality="95" />
<ImageEncoding quality="80" />
<ImageEncoding quality="70" />
<ImageDecoding memCap="20000000" />

</CamcorderProfiles>

<EncoderOutputFileFormat name="3gp" />
<EncoderOutputFileFormat name="mp4" />

<!--
If a codec is not enabled, it is invisible to the applications
In other words, the applications won't be able to use the codec
or query the capabilities of the codec at all if it is disabled
-->
<VideoEncoderCap name="h264" enabled="true"
minBitRate="64000" maxBitRate="20000000"
minFrameWidth="176" maxFrameWidth="1920"
minFrameHeight="144" maxFrameHeight="1080"
minFrameRate="1" maxFrameRate="60" />

<VideoEncoderCap name="h263" enabled="true"
minBitRate="64000" maxBitRate="2000000"
minFrameWidth="176" maxFrameWidth="800"
minFrameHeight="144" maxFrameHeight="480"
minFrameRate="1" maxFrameRate="30" />

<VideoEncoderCap name="m4v" enabled="true"
minBitRate="64000" maxBitRate="20000000"
minFrameWidth="176" maxFrameWidth="1920"
minFrameHeight="144" maxFrameHeight="1080"
minFrameRate="1" maxFrameRate="30" />

<AudioEncoderCap name="aac" enabled="true"
minBitRate="8000" maxBitRate="156000"
minSampleRate="8000" maxSampleRate="48000"
minChannels="1" maxChannels="2" />

<AudioEncoderCap name="heaac" enabled="true"
minBitRate="8000" maxBitRate="128000"
minSampleRate="16000" maxSampleRate="48000"
minChannels="1" maxChannels="2" />

<AudioEncoderCap name="aaceld" enabled="true"
minBitRate="16000" maxBitRate="384000"
minSampleRate="16000" maxSampleRate="48000"
minChannels="1" maxChannels="2" />

<AudioEncoderCap name="amrwb" enabled="true"
minBitRate="6600" maxBitRate="23050"
minSampleRate="16000" maxSampleRate="16000"
minChannels="1" maxChannels="1" />

<AudioEncoderCap name="amrnb" enabled="true"
minBitRate="5525" maxBitRate="12200"
minSampleRate="8000" maxSampleRate="8000"
minChannels="1" maxChannels="1" />

<AudioEncoderCap name="lpcm" enabled="true"
minBitRate="768000" maxBitRate="4608000"
minSampleRate="48000" maxSampleRate="48000"
minChannels="1" maxChannels="6" />

<!--
FIXME:
We do not check decoder capabilities at present
At present, we only check whether windows media is visible
for TEST applications. For other applications, we do
not perform any checks at all.
-->
<VideoDecoderCap name="wmv" enabled="true"/>
<AudioDecoderCap name="wma" enabled="true"/>
</MediaSettings>
root@ghost:/system/etc #

OK, gotta head to work, maybe some more later.